COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Sacrifices and reduced expectations will be needed to get Columbus through the current economic crisis, according to Mayor Michael Coleman.
"We are in a national economic decline. That is a reality. That is a fact. It is a cold, hard fact we have to deal with," Coleman said.
Coleman said 2009 will be a year of sacrifice for everyone. He is facing a budget deficit of $82 million, but said there could be more red ink.
"We have proposed things that I never even contemplated. We would be in a position to propose. The closing of recreation centers that are close to my heart, all these young people…it bothers me greatly. But look at what our choices are. Pick up the trash, provide for safety services and those are the other things that could potentially be on the chopping block," he said.
Government will be operating at a bare bones level. So Coleman met with leaders of the YMCA, St. Stephens Community House and neighborhood shelter houses to ask them to try to expand services to young people to cover the recreation center gap.
Last week, there was an impassioned plea to save neighborhood services from a man who said they saved his life.
"It's personally very painful and heartbreaking to undergo these cuts," Coleman said. "No one can provide police services other than the police. No one can provide sanitation services than that sanitation department, but a lot of people can help out with raising our kids and doing things to provide that safety net and that's what I'm asking this community to do."
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